Navy ¦ Navy News ¦ Naval News ¦ NOSI – Naval Open Source Intelligence

US Marines – With the Marines inside Fallujah.

US Navy – The US will change how it guards Iraqi oil terminals from terrorist suicide attacks.

US Navy – In September 2005, a little-known engineering office in Crystal City, Va., will deliver to the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) in Washington, D.C., a computer model known as Configuration 05. If successful, this new computer model will enable the Navy to take several giant steps forward in its years-long quest to fully implement the theory of network centric warfare.

Navy ¦ Navy News ¦ Naval News ¦ NOSI – Naval Open Source Intelligence

Please Note: Do not use the address nosi.org when trying to access NOSI. Make sure to use http://www.nosi.org. This is a technical glitch we are still working on fixing.

Indian Navy – India restores the Cross of St. George to its emblem.

Royal Australian Navy – Australia is helping US Navy survivors of a suicide bomb attack that occured during the boarding of a dhow.

US Marines – The Marines decide not to invade Fallujah with an all out assault.

US Navy – Seaswap is having a huge effect on the Navy. The Navyís top leadership has decided to pursue radical changes in the size and shape of its forces, likely resulting in the serviceís shrinking by ìthousands of sailorsî and scaling back plans to add a substantial number of ships in the next few year.

US Navy – The Navy moves forward to implement the seabasing concept.

US Marines – Progressive reconstruction of target nations must be added to the Marines’ concept of Expeditionary Maneuver Warfare.

US Marines – Marines are convinced future battlefields will be just as chaotic and unpredictable as past conflicts, and perhaps even more so. And Corps officials say this ìfog of warî calls for a flexible net centricity that will adapt to various command styles and allow a commander to either continue the march or change his approach as the situation dictates.

Background – Iraq – The last excerpt from Bob Woodward’s book, “Plan of Attack.”

Navy ¦ Navy News ¦ Naval News ¦ NOSI – Naval Open Source Intelligence

Finally! – NOSI has been successfully transferred to its new hosting service. We should no longer experience any server outages (knock wood!).

Here is a catchup of all news items from April 3 until today. Many very interesting items, please take your time going through them. The big news item while we were down were the battles in Iraq, particularly in Fallujah, and will cover those going forward from here.

I will not have Internet access for the next few days, so NOSI will next be updated on Monday, April 26, and we will be back to our usual daily update schedule at that time. See you then!


First – Here are the news items from April 3 to April 6, which many of you missed during the server outages.

Malaysian Navy – Malaysia has rejected a proposal that the United States help patrol the Straits of Malacca.

US Navy – An introduction to network centric warfare.

US Navy – To learn where military research is going, ask DARPA. Here are a number of lectures from their most recent Symposium. In the naval sphere, they are focused on the littorals???

South Korean Navy – South Korea will host a submarine rescue exercise later this month.

US Coast Guard – The U.S. Coast Guard later this month will review recommendations from industry on the pros and cons of renovating 49 110-foot Island-class patrol boats ó workhorses of the fleet ó or curtailing that effort by buying in early on a new class of fast-response cutters.

US Navy – Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Vern Clark has directed his admirals to “develop a culture of improved productivity and find the resources to create the Navy of the future.”

US Navy – The extraction of lucrative natural resources is increasingly, in several regions of the world, a source of violence-conflicts in which transnational corporations are frequently complicit but that they are also typically best positioned to resolve. While theoretical analysis of natural-resource- related violence is not yet mature, there are strong reasons for the U.S. armed forces and their civilian leadership to be cautious about intervening in such conflicts.

Canadian Navy – Canada’s Aurora maritime patrol aircraft are being upgraded.

US Navy – More details on the sea-based US missile shield being built off of Korea.

US Marines – so much for the 1 MEF’s “go soft” approach to the Sunni Triangle???

US Navy – The US Navy is having its role in maritime security clarified.

US Navy – An interview with the Chief of Naval Research, Admiral Jay Cohen.

Background – History – A team reveals the story of the steam yacht Fox on its mission from Britain to determine the fate of an 1845 quest to find the Northwest Passage. Under the command of Captain Francis Leopold McClintock the ship’s crew found evidence of how Captain Sir John Franklin and his expedition spent their final days.

Background – Taiwan – George W. Bush was right to rebuke Taiwan’s president over his plans for a referendum on relations with China. Administration critics assume that democracy and independence are inseparable, that the “one China” principle is no longer useful, and that China would never go to war over Taiwan. But they are wrong on all three counts and fail to appreciate the dangers that may lie ahead.


Second – Here are the news items from April 7 until today.

Royal Navy – The submarines HMS Tireless and USS Hampton meet at the North Pole for a game of football.

Pakistani Navy – Pakistan will join the international task force in the Arabian Sea, searching for terrorists.

US Marines – The Marines are working hard at stopping terrorists from entering into Iraq from Syria.

US Navy – A close-up look at the HSV 2 Swift’s cutting-edge systems

US Navy – The Navy starts to retire its S-3 Vikings.

US Navy – The US opens a new antisubmarine command.

US Navy – The homeport for the USS John F. Kennedy will remain in Mayport, Florida.

US Navy – Never before has such a large quantity and broad scope of information been available instantaneously to the warfare commander. The impact of this fact cannot be overstated; it is transforming the way we conduct war.

US Marines – This is Part II of a three-part series concerning Phase IVósecurity and stabilization operationsóduring Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Background – 4th Generation Warfare – William Lind attempts to develop a grand strategy of 4th Generation Warfare.

Background – Afghanistan – Seymour Hersh on the Bush Administrationís unfinished business in Afghanistan, and how Afghanistan is turning into a quagmire for the US.

Background – History – A look at how a very small RAF force defended their airbase and utterly defeated the Iraqi army in 1941.

Background – Iraq – Historian Niall Ferguson draws parallels between the US occpuation of Iraq today and the UK occupation of Iraq in the 1920’s. The similarities are fascinating???

Background – Iraq – The US Army War College’s plan for post-war Iraq, done in the fall of 2002 and published in February 2003. Would post-war Iraq be a different place if this study of history had not been ignored?

Background – Iraq – The US Army War College goes on to criticize the plan for the US invasion of Iraq.

Background – Iraq – An interesting look at the Shias inside Iraq. The son of a famous Shiite family says that if elected, he can run Iraq.

Background – Peacekeeping – What happens when the shooting stops is one of the greatest challenges of our time, and the people who build nations, despite recent setbacks in Haiti and Kosovo, are convinced that peacekeeping can work.

Background – Environment – A Pentagon report claims that climate change over the next 20 years could result in a global catastrophe costing millions of lives in wars and natural disasters.

Background – Korea – U.S. war plans for the Korean peninsula are being rewritten to better reflect new and more capable equipment the U.S. and its South Korean ally are fielding.

Background – Body Armor – Robert Kaplan explains that body armor is a must in some lines of work, and it gives “fashion plate” a whole new meaning

Background – Iraq – First excerpt from Bob Woodward’s new book on the War in Iraq entitled “Plan of Attack.” Woodward describes the Cheney-Powell split over war with Iraq.

Background – Iraq – The second except from Bob Woodward’s book “Plan of Attack.” The CIA’s estimate of Saddam Hussein’s Arsenal Became the White House’s Rationale for Invasion

Background – Iraq – Third excerpt from Bob Woodward’s new book, which details the tension between the Vice President and Secretary of State Powell.

Background – Iraq – The fourth excerpt from Bob Woodward’s new book, in which Britain’s backing meant Bush didn’t have to go it alone.


Third – Here are the background articles for this weekend.

Background – History – During the March 28, 1941, Battle of Cape Matapan, British Admiral Andrew B. Cunningham decided once and for all who would be master of the Mediterranean.

Background – History – The Navy currently is developing the Littoral Combat Ship to meet its requirement for a craft that can travel at high speed, have a minimal draft to operate within the littoral, evade minefields, and deliver fire to destroy enemy targets. The origins of this radical new multimission ship, however, date back to an initial ó and equally radical ó attempt to meet those same requirements during World War I.

Background – Russia – Conventional wisdom in the West says that post-Cold War Russia has been a disastrous failure. The facts say otherwise. Aspects of Russia’s performance over the last decade may have been disappointing, but the notion that the country has gone through an economic cataclysm and political relapse is wrong–more a comment on overblown expectations than on Russia’s actual experience. Compared to other countries at a similar level of economic and political development, Russia looks more the norm than the exception.

US Navy – Gilbert and Sullivan’s fictitious Major General Stanley would have had little or no opportunity for formal professional military development. The U.S. military has evolved senior service colleges, including the U.S. Army War College, at which that nineteenth-century “modern major general” would find no place. These colleges must sustain their vital role in educating officers to meet the challenges of the emerging and future world.

Navy ¦ Navy News ¦ Naval News ¦ NOSI – Naval Open Source Intelligence

NOSI Update – Last week, NOSI’s Web hosting service suffered a service outage. At that time I decided to finally transfer NOSI to a new hosting service, which would use its address http://www.nosi.org. There have been some technical problems transferring NOSI to this new hosting service, but they hope to have the bugs ironed very soon. Stay tuned for details, and I apologize for the problems and appreciate your patience???

Navy ¦ Navy News ¦ Naval News ¦ NOSI – Naval Open Source Intelligence

French Navy – The aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle is exercising in the Gulf and the Indian Ocean.

Royal Navy – The cuts run even deeper – there will be no Harrier aircraft to fly off of HMS Ark Royal.

US Navy – How will the US get permission to base a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in Japan?

US Navy – The latest naval news from around the fleet.

Navy ¦ Navy News ¦ Naval News ¦ NOSI – Naval Open Source Intelligence

Royal Navy – The UK will withdraw HMS Invincible and HMS Illustrious from service.

US Marines – A look at the Marine’s activities in Fallujah to date.

US Marines – The Marines have landed in Afghanistan.

US Navy – The USS Bataan returns to port after a deployment to the Gulf.

Background – Iraq – An excellent overview of the war with Iraq, at its one year anniversary.

Navy ¦ Navy News ¦ Naval News ¦ NOSI – Naval Open Source Intelligence

US Navy – More details on the “Sea Swap” program.

International Navies – The latest naval news from England, Australia,, India, Pakistan, Canada, Finland, UAE, and Greece.

Navy ¦ Navy News ¦ Naval News ¦ NOSI – Naval Open Source Intelligence

US Navy – The Sea Swap test, an experiment in dual-crewing of surface ships, continues successfully.

US Marines – Rarely in a career do we get the opportunity to challenge ourselves in a foreign education environment. The authors take us on the fabulous journey in store for prospective students at the French Joint Defense College.

Navy ¦ Navy News ¦ Naval News ¦ NOSI – Naval Open Source Intelligence

Military Sealift Command – Transporting Army equipment to and from Kuwait aboard USNS Gordon.

US Navy – The U.S. Navyís top fleet leader, Adm. William J. Fallon, commander of the Norfolk, Va.-based U.S. Fleet Forces Command, wants to strengthen the input of operational forces with a fundamental shift in how the Navy identifies requirements for resources, equipment, manpower, and training programs.

Navy ¦ Navy News ¦ Naval News ¦ NOSI – Naval Open Source Intelligence

Royal Navy – The first Sea Harrier squadron disbands soon.

Chilean Navy – Chile will purchase frigates from Holland.

US Navy – For a decade, the media has been rife with apparent evidence that the Peopleís Liberation Army Navy wishes to operate an aircraft carrier. However, the aircraft carrier today has no champion in the Chinese navy. Strategic priorities, costs, technical difficulties, and the likely reaction of neighboring countries all now argue against a Chinese carrier battle group. However, the PLAN has not abandoned the idea altogetherómerely shelved it.

Background – Iraq – William Lind documents how the US has entered into a 4GW conflict in Iraq.

Navy ¦ Navy News ¦ Naval News ¦ NOSI – Naval Open Source Intelligence

NATO – A look at how NATO forces will help guard the Olympics.

US Navy – More about the problems with the Navy Marine Corps Intranet.

US Navy – Navy news from around the defense industry.

Background – History – The “Qualifications of a Naval Officer” quotation variously attributed to John Paul Jones and force-fed to U.S. Naval Academy midshipmen in the publication Reef Points presents a clear sign of naval transformation at the turn of the 20th century. The action of a recent Commandant of Midshipmen, however, officially acknowledges that Jones had nothing to do with this 100-year-old mantra.

Background – Saudi Arabia – Saudi Arabia is in the throes of a crisis, but its elite is bitterly divided on how to escape it. Crown Prince Abdullah leads a camp of liberal reformers seeking rapprochement with the West, while Prince Nayef, the interior minister, sides with an anti-American Wahhabi religious establishment that has much in common with al Qaeda. Abdullah cuts a higher profile abroad — but at home Nayef casts a longer and darker shadow.

Navy ¦ Navy News ¦ Naval News ¦ NOSI – Naval Open Source Intelligence

US Marines – Marines from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, aboard the USS Wasp Expeditionary Strike Group in the Gulf, will soon go ashore in Afghanistan to join the search for al-Qaida and Taliban fighters.

Canadian Navy – Canada will do more to enforce its sovereignty over its northern territories.

US Navy – More on the Littoral Combat Ship.

Background – Port Security – How the US is trying to push its borders back to prevent seaborne terrorism.

Background – Operations Other Than War – The U.S. occupation of Iraq is a debacle not because the government did no planning but because a vast amount of expert planning was willfully ignored by the people in charge. The inside story of a historic failure by James Fallows.

Navy ¦ Navy News ¦ Naval News ¦ NOSI – Naval Open Source Intelligence

US Marines – The Marines take over in Fallujah.

US Marines – Contrary to a recent preliminary U.S. Army War College study that downgraded the importance of speed in Operation Iraqi Freedom last year, the Marine Corps strongly believes that speed was absolutely essential in the rout of Saddam Husseinís forces.

Background – Iraq – This piece is the first in a series of periodic Inside the Command Center articles on the 2003 war in Iraq. The author spent six weeks of the war as an ìembedded reporterî at the Coalition Force Land Component Command headquarters at Camp Doha, Kuwait.

Background – Wargames – James F. Dunningan on what can be learned from wargaming the war with Iraq?

Navy ¦ Navy News ¦ Naval News ¦ NOSI – Naval Open Source Intelligence

Russian Navy – The flagship of Russia’s Northern Fleet – the cruiser Peter the Great – has been ordered back to port as it is said to be too dangerous to be at sea.

Russian Navy – The decline of Russia’s armed services has been unmistakeable for more than a decade, but it is the crisis in the navy that has been most conspicuous of all.

Argentinian Navy – Argentina is accused of interferring in the Falkland’s economic zone.

US Navy – There are nagging doubts about the ability of the U.S. naval shipbuilding and repair industry to meet the demands of the century ahead. Some elementsóprimarily those associated with small boats and high-speed ferries and the offshore oil and barge industriesóare faring well, but the future is far less sanguine for many of the larger yards and their subcontractors.

Background – Spain – William Lind looks at one of historyís shortest and most successful strategic bombing campaigns.

Navy ¦ Navy News ¦ Naval News ¦ NOSI – Naval Open Source Intelligence

US Navy – The US plans to permanently station an Aegis destroyer in the Sea of Japan as part of its ballist missile defense shield.

US Navy – An IT analysis of the disaster the Navy Marine Corps Intranet has become.

US Navy – Many critics in Washington predicted more than a year ago that the realignment of the Navyís integrated warfare systems (IWS) under one acquisition umbrella would not last because its size and complexity would pose impassable barriers to success. Today, Rear Adm. Charles T. Bush, the program executive officer in charge of IWS, offers this news: programs have been tightened, support costs are down, and open architecture ó the conversion of the serviceís diverse information system protocols into a universal network ó is becoming reality.

Navy ¦ Navy News ¦ Naval News ¦ NOSI – Naval Open Source Intelligence

Bangladeshi Navy – Bangladesh will increase the size of its navy.

US Marines – Our Nation has become so dependent on spectrum-based services that it would be difficult to win a war without them.

Background – Warplanning – William Arkin looks at the current state of warplanning in the Pentagon.

Background – Afghanistan – An interesting look at the current state of affairs in Afghanistan, followed by a Question and Answer session with the author.

Navy ¦ Navy News ¦ Naval News ¦ NOSI – Naval Open Source Intelligence

Royal Navy – Aboard a Royal Navy frigate in the Gulf, hunting Al-Qaeda.

US Navy – Is the title of the Secretary of the Navy about to change?

US Navy – After delays of about two years and significant cost overruns, the Navy considers the new LPD 17 amphibious transport dock ship to be on schedule now, with the first of 12 ships set for delivery early in the next fiscal year.

US Navy – The world order anchored by the U.S.-German relationship has integrated Germany into Europe without more bloodshed, brought the transformation of communist Europe, and visited prosperity on a part of the world that could easily have been embroiled in strife. That world order, however, is being severely eroded by misunderstanding and rhetoric on all sides. A statecraft is needed that comprehends the nature of military power and what a given country can and cannot do to defend itself.

Background – Bases – George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld have pledged to change the way America’s armed forces are distributed around the globe. What do they have in mind?

Navy ¦ Navy News ¦ Naval News ¦ NOSI – Naval Open Source Intelligence

Chinese Navy – A look at how and why the Chinese Navy is increasing in size.

US Marines – Patroling at night in Port-au-Prince with the Marines.

US Navy – Aboard the USS George Washington in the Persian Gulf.

US Navy – Naval lessons learned from Iraq.

Background – Iraq – John Keegan looks back on the invasion of Iraq, one year later.

Background – Iraq – A look at how 4th Generation Warfare is being conducted in Iraq.

Background – History – The paths of two powerful men crossed in the early 1920s, and their actions shaped the future of the Navy and Marine Corps.

Background – War on Terror – The Bush administration has literalized its “war” on terrorism, dissolving the legal boundaries between what a government can do in peacetime and what’s allowed in war. This move may have made it easier for Washington to detain or kill suspects, but it has also threatened basic due process rights, thereby endangering us all.

Navy ¦ Navy News ¦ Naval News ¦ NOSI – Naval Open Source Intelligence

Nigerian Navy – Nigeria sends a ship to patrol off of Equitorial Guinea.

Canadian Navy – Canada’s commando force, JTF-2, prepares for naval missions.

Chinese Navy – Is China building several aircraft carriers, to a modified Admiral Gorshkov design?

US Navy – In 2004, the Navy is poised at an important juncture, with its forces having been restructured following Operation Iraqi Freedom, and its leadership executing new plans for how the fleet will organize and deploy in support of the ongoing global war on terrorism. The transformation under way calls for enhanced capabilities and the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) is building the platforms that will redefine the fleet well into the next century.

Navy ¦ Navy News ¦ Naval News ¦ NOSI – Naval Open Source Intelligence

Russian Navy – Russia successfully test fires a submarine launched intercontinental ballistic missile.

NATO – NATO widens its antiterrorism patrols to the entire Mediterranean Sea.

Background – Geopolitics – Meet Colonel Tom Wilhelm, one of a new breed of soldier-diplomats that has come into being since the end of the Cold War. An essay by Robert D. Kaplan

Navy ¦ Navy News ¦ Naval News ¦ NOSI – Naval Open Source Intelligence

Royal Air Force – Nimrod maritme patrol aircraft are being used for overland surveillance in Iraq.

Royal Navy – More design changes to the Royal Navy’s new carriers.

French Navy – More on the exercises between the French and Chinese navies.

US Navy – The USS Kitty Hawk battlegroup is exercising off of Korea.

US Navy – Will the 6th Fleet help provide security for the Olympic Games?

US Marines – The Marines begin nation building in Haiti.

US Marines – Mines and IEDs in expeditionary maneuver warfare environments: obstacles or nuisances? Fixing MAGTF mine countermeasures is essential.

Navy ¦ Navy News ¦ Naval News ¦ NOSI – Naval Open Source Intelligence

US Navy – Are P-3 Orions operating in support of troops in Chad?

Background – Piracy – An update on piracy at sea.

Background – Taiwan – Background briefings on the current dispute in the Taiwan Strait.

Navy ¦ Navy News ¦ Naval News ¦ NOSI – Naval Open Source Intelligence

Background – Russia – A further look at Russia’s exercises last month.

US Navy – American civilian and military leaders must dismiss the fatally flawed theory that time is on China’s side in the struggle over the fate of Taiwan. The real danger of a PRC attack is in this decade, when Taiwan is most vulnerable, not in the next. Closer military ties with Taiwan, more cautious dealings with China, a strengthened U.S. naval and air presence in the western Pacific, and complementary nonmilitary measures are needed.

Navy ¦ Navy News ¦ Naval News ¦ NOSI – Naval Open Source Intelligence

French Navy – The French and Chinese navies will exercise next week.

French Navy – The French and Indian navies will exercise next month.

US Marines – Leathernecks of 1st Battalion, Fifth Marine Regiment have been on a fast track since their return from Iraq. Now they are headed back.

Background – History – War produces many strange results. The submersible aircraft carrier was one.

Navy ¦ Navy News ¦ Naval News ¦ NOSI – Naval Open Source Intelligence

New Site – BiodefenseEducation.org – In brief, a new site, similar in concept to NOSI, but dedicated to the topic of biodefense and biological warfare, that we are working on for the National Institutes of Health. Below is the formal description:

    The biodefense field and biodefense information is growing rapidly, and keeping current is challenging.

    BiodefenseEducation.org is a Biodefense Digital Library and Collaboratory which is intended to serve as a source of continuing education on biodefense affairs.

    BiodefenseEducation.org is designed to serve several different populations: the current and next generation of biodefense investigators and trainees, medical personnel, first responders, and other interested parties.

    BiodefenseEducation.org has three components:

    1. News Library – An annotated list of links to biodefense news stories are posted daily after scanning over 100 international news sources. The purpose of this News Library is to serve as a source of daily biodefense education and continuing professional development for biodefense investigators and trainees and to define a biodefense learning curriculum.

    2. Collaboratory – Discussions about the biodefense news stories or any other biodefense topic is encouraged. The purpose of this Collaboratory is to bring together online individuals interested in biodefense so they may freely and easily discuss the numerous issues in biodefense research, education, or patient care.

    3. Reference Library – The reference library serves as a biodefense knowledge management system, connecting the individual interested in biodefense faced with a question with the right information at the right time so they can make the right decision.

    BiodefenseEducation.org can be found at: http://www.biodefenseeducation.org

    BiodefenseEducation.org is funded in part by a grant from the National Institute of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

    BiodefenseEducation.org is a work in progress, and we welcome your comments which may be sent via our online Comment Form at http://www.biodefenseeducation.org/sendcomments.

    Thank you for your consideration,

    Donna M. D’Alessandro, M.D. and Michael P. D’Alessandro, M.D.

US Navy – A U.S. Navy strategic missile from the USS Georgia was damaged during a mishap at a submarine base last year, nearly striking a nuclear warhead.

Iraq – Will US learn from the lessons taught to the British during their occupation of Iraq starting in 1920?